I personally counted the kanji lists in texts I own to double-check zen and found:

Youkoso 1: 170 (between 23-27 in each of 7 chapters)
Youkoso 2: 192 (between 24-30 in each of 7 chapters)
Nakama 1: 90 (about 15 in 6 chapters (ch7-12)
There's no list that I could find in the main "Minna" books--and I don't have the specific books for the kanji learning, , so I couldn't count there.
You didn't ask, but for the Basic/Intermediate Kanji books, the count is:
Basic 1: 1-251
Basic 2: 252-500
The Intermediates say "1000Plus" on them but they are organized a bit different. I can get a count from Intermediate 1 & 2 later if you like.

zen, I think your software is a little off. ^^;

Last edited by Kates on Sun 11.20.2005 10:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

Kates wrote:I personally counted the kanji lists in texts I own to double-check zen and found:

Youkoso 1: 170 (between 23-27 in each of 7 chapters)

zen, I think your software is a little off. ^^;

うそ！ it must be the dictionary files. B) it's pratically impossible to count unique characters and come up with the wrong answer.

here are the 225 kanji used in the Youkoso 1 dictionary file:
〜一七万三上下中主九事二五交京人今休会伝何作使元兄先入全八六円冬出分切前力勉動北署迪ﾟ半南原口台右同名向味和品員喫四回国土地場売夏夕外多夜大天太女好妹姉始子学室家寒小少屋山川左市平年店度引弟弱強彼後心思性悪意所手持数文料新方旅族日早明春昼時景暑暗曜書最月有服朝期木末本来東楽歩残母毎民気水河法洋海温湯源火熱父牛物理生用田男町番発白百真社秋空立米紙終考聞肉自色花茶荷行西見言話語説読貝質赤起趣足車近返速週運道遠部酒野量金長開間雨雪電青音風食飲高魚鳥黄黒

though for my purposes, kanji == not ( hiragana | katakana ), so that 「〜」might not really count since i don't have any of the books, i can't compare their contents to the dictionary files, maybe they give extra words (but it would be mean to include kanji not in the book), they could be using different variants of the same kanji in different places (also mean, but i would count each variant seperately), otherwise... not a clue.

Thanks for the help so far. Appleraja: I'll probably make a textbook guide on Amazon since this is mainly to help prospective students make a decision about which textbook to use. And many of the titles above don't show on the standard search or are buried too deep for the average person to find.

I also wanted a page to link everytime someone comes on one of the Japanese boards I peruse and asks what textbook to buy.

zen: Well, the number of kanji USED in a textbook differs, I'm sure, to the number of kanji TAUGHT. If ishnar wants TAUGHT, then my numbers are good (I hand-counted the lists for each chapter). But your numbers are probably good for the kanji USED in each text. After all, city/prefecture/family names are usually written with their kanji, with furigana, but the student is not expected to really learn them. (: Also, some texts show articles or recipes and things like that which may use kanji not taught in the books.